White Whiskey Stone Pine Sour

I often find my way back to the classics, as you may know, and the whiskey sour is no exception. The reality is, sometimes I need a drink with some citrus to soften the booze. There are moments that I just don’t want another Negroni (although that doesn’t happen often) and when those moments come, this is the direction I want to go. It might be a Southside or this Shamrock Sour, or it might be your classic Whiskey Sour.

Today, it is a White Whiskey sour with some surprising new ingredients. White whiskey is unaged and a little rougher around the edges, but it has a distinct and impressive wheat character that works like a dream in cocktails. For this drink, I took a simple whiskey sour ratio (2 parts whiskey, 3/4 part lemon, 3/4 part sweetener) and enhanced it. I used Agave Nectar for my sweetener, as I’ve found that agave and honey pair quite well with white whiskey. To get more complexity and bitterness to offset the sour, I added 1/2 oz of Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur and a dash of Adam Elmegirab Dandelion and Burdock Bitters.

The resulting cocktail is balanced, slightly sour, and complex. The primary flavor component is the white whiskey, but it is softened slightly by the other ingredients.